Friday, August 16

US mental institutions are prisons: Alison Hymes case

We are told over and over again that US is democratic or even that it is the most democratic country. The facts reveals the opposite. We have recently the cases of Brad Manning and Edward Snowden as examples of a regime that is far from being democratic.
Other cases that are not very known involve tasering people till death like what happened to 18 years-old artist Israel Hernandez tasered in the heart till death by Miami police.

If "normal" citizens are being treated this way those who are in mental institutions don't count. Once someone is labelled a mental illness they are not considered human anymore. This is a fact.

I wrote about Alison Hymes at this post. Nothing is being done and she continues to suffer the most heinous treatment in the Western State Hospital, Virginia.
Alison has already had her condition worsened due to the treatment the Virginia's hospital is giving her in a very deep degree. They keep on treating her like an animal.
Being tortured by physicians in a hospital; receiving a treatment that is causing more harm...*
This is surreal but we are living in the most dark of all humankind ages. History will tell the story.
Alison Hymes? Until when?

*Iatrogenesis is the leading cause of death in US.

Update:
I wrote to Virginia's governor Bob McDowell this message:

Dear Mr. McDowell,

I'm a Brazilian citizens and as a mental health advocate I would like to call to your attention what is happening to Alison Hymes at the From Western State Hospital.
This is the the report of one of her friends that is at Mindfreedom:

"Resident and longtime MindFreedom member Alison Hymes, on Wednesday, 7/3/13, had a re-commitment hearing. This hearing marked the 6 month, 1/2 year point, in her imprisonment at Western State Hospital in Staunton, Virginia.

The result of this hearing is that she was given another 45 days in the hospital after which she will be given another hearing. The result could have been worse as potentially she could have had to wait another 6 months for a hearing.

The bad news, according to Alison, is that the staff at the hospital are not talking about releasing her. She wishes to return to her condominium, her community, and the life she was living before imprisonment at Western State Hospital.

Talking to her over the phone it is not always easy to understand what she is saying. Her words are slurred and garbled. She claims that this is so because the hospital staff won't return her dentures to her. Dentures they took from her.

In a previous alert we claimed she was taking lamictal rather than a neuroleptic. Following a previous hearing with her treatment team this is no longer true. Apparently her doctor thought it necessary to put her back on the drug prolixin. She is receiving shots of prolixin, a long acting injectable, every two weeks. She is also still receiving a daily dose of anti-convulsion drug lamictal.

She had gained much weight since being put on seroquel, the atypical neuroleptic she was receiving during her last hospitalization, and she is very sensitive, as you can well imagine anybody would be, about this issue. She doesn't like the effects of the prolixin, she understands it is a harmful substance, with a potential for doing her a great deal of damage, and she wishes to be taken off it.

Alison was the recipient of a kidney following lithium poisoning after a previous incident of psychiatric malpractice. Her friends and allies worry that keeping her at Western State Hospital
for any length of time will only further endanger her health. She says the medical staff at Western say she needs an operation, on an ulcer, but that the hospital is slow to get around to operating.

Asked what she would tell other members of MindFreedom she said, "I need to get out as soon as possible. I need to get out.""

The treatment Alison Hymes is receiving is criminal.
I hope Alison can count on your mercy to stop being tortured this way.